Tales of the Author
by Ehennen08
Summary: This is an AU of the Once Upon a Time story. Same characters and backgrounds but different story. I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the shows amazing characters. That title belongs to ABC and Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Feedback is appreciated!


Chapter 1

This is a story about me, Henry Mills. I lost my only family at the age of 10 I am 20 now. My adoptive mother Regina Mills mysteriously disappeared one day several years ago. I never knew my birth parents let alone who they were. The only family I had known was Regina. I've has been all alone ever since. Until one day when my whole life was turned upside down...again.

I was just going about my normal, boring day working at this local pawn shop in New York City. My boss Mr. Gold is away on some personal business, so I am left in charge of the shop while he gone. In walks a old man with a full white beard and long, gray curly hair. He comes up to the counter, looks and me, nods and lays out an array of pens. One pen is just a normal blue cap pen. Another is just a pencil, one kind of looks like a stick and the last one, the one I am intrigued by is a type of quil with a sort of wizards hat on top of it.

"Choose one." Says the old man

"Excuse me?" I ask

"Choose...a pen"

"Why?" I ask getting slightly annoyed and confused. "Who are you? Why do I need to pick a pen?"

"I am what is known as the Apprentice. I am in charge of keeping order in the storytelling realm." says the Apprentice.

"Ok now you're messing with me. Storytelling realm? What is that?" I ask.

"Could you please just choose a pen?" The Apprentice asks. "The rest will come in do time."

"Fine!" I say as I pick up the pen that looked the most intriguing. The pen with the black shaft the the wizard hat looking thing on top of it.

"Very well!" says The Apprentice. "You will be our next author. Your job is to write the story as they happen."

"Again what are you talking about? What are these so called stories?" I ask.

"Follow me." says the Apprentice. Hesitant at first but I follow him out of the shop making sure to lock up as I am leaving and we walk down the streets of New York City. After walking for awhile we stop in front of a furniture store "The Wizard of Oak" and walk inside. Inside the furniture store it is pretty much empty except for a door in the middle of the room. The apprentice walks up to the door and opens it. All I see is a bright, white light.

"Shall we?" asks the Apprentice.

"I guess." I say as I walk through the door thinking that things can't get any stranger. As I reach the other side of the door I am surrounded by woods and bigh green trees. Looking around examining the scenery, I see that the Apprentice was nowhere to be found. I start walking around the woods to find either the Apprentice or some help, and I come across this huge castle. The castles gate is guarded by some black knights. Maybe they can help me figure out what's going on here and find the Apprentice.

"Excuse me mister uh Black Knight sir? Do you think you could help me? I seem to have lost a friend of mine." I ask

"Sure. What was your friends name?" asks the Black Knight

"Um well he never told me his actual name all he said was that everyone calls him The Apprentice."

"The Apprentice? Are you sure? Did he have white curly hair, and a long gray beard?" asks the Black Knight

"Uh yeah. Why?" I ask

"What is your name kid?"

"Henry Mills…." I say. As the Black Knights eyes light up and a huge grin appears on his face.

"You need to come with me kid." says the Black Knight. I follow the Black Knight through the gates of the caste and up the stairs. The Black Knight stops me once we reach big wooden double doors.

"Wait here while I go get me boss."

"Who's your boss?" I ask. The Black Knight turns around to look at me and pauses.

"The Evil Queen...I work for the Evil Queen." says the Black Knight. As the Black Knight leaves I start going over everything that The Apprentice had told me. I'm the new author of some storytelling realm, and a Black Knight just led me into a castle to talk with the Evil Queen. How is any of this real. These are all just meant to be fairytales. I must be dreaming I say to myself as I pinch my arm trying to wake up, but nothing happens. The door opens and out walks a woman dressed in long black leather dress, I hear her gasp. When I look up I gasp as well. I know that face anywhere, it is the face of my long lost mother Regina. Surprised and shocked I have no words, so I am happy when she is the first speak.

"Henry?" says Regina as she approaches me and cups my cheek. "Is it really you?

"Yeah Mom, it's really me." I say as a tears start to form in my eyes. She leans forward and places a kiss on my head. I pull back starting to get mad and say. "Where have you been these past ten years? You just disappeared, and left me all alone. You were the only family I had. How could you do this to your own son?" I saw as the tears finally start flowing down my face.

"Trust me Henry, I didn't want to leave. I would never leave you willingly. Please just come inside with me and I will explain everything, I promise" says Regina. I follow her through the double doors into a huge dining room with a big table at the center full of people who all stand up once we walk in. Shocked expressions on each one of their faces.

"Henry….I'd like you to meet the rest of your family." says Regina. Confused, shocked and starting to see stars. Everything goes black the last thing I hear is my mom yelling my name.

Chapter 2

The next thing I know, i'm waking up in a ginormous bed that is not my own and Regina walks in.

"Henry!" says Regina "How are you feeling?"

"Fine I guess." I say confused. "What happened."I ask.

"You blacked out." says Regina. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Uhh I remember finding you, you taking me into the dining area and then you said something to me but I don't remember what you said." I say

"Do you remember the other people in the room?" She asks

"Yeah..?" I say

"Well those people are the rest of your family."

"What do you mean rest of my family? I thought you said we didn't have any other family, that we were each other's family?"

"Yes we are, but so are they. You see they are my family which makes them your family." says Regina.

"Why have I never met them before?" I ask

"You never met them because of who they are, and who their enemies are."

"Who are they?" I ask

"They are your biological parents and your biological grandparents. But they are also fairytale character, and they live here along with me in this castle in a place we call The Enchanted Forest."

"..." I stare at her with a blank expression on my face.

"Okay, I was kind of expecting a bigger reaction. You're not even going to accuse me of lying about the fairytales or anything?" asks Regina

"If you knew the day that I've had you would know that it's not the craziest thing I've been told today. I was told by some old man that I was going to be the next author, whatever that means." I say

"Oh my god." says Regina under her breath to where I almost couldn't hear it.

"What?" I ask

"Nothing it can wait. Henry?" she says as she takes my hand. "Would you like to meet the rest of your family?" She asks. I nod and follow her out of the room and down the hall to the dining space from before. There stands four people that I assume are the rest of my family.

"Henry, this is your family." she says as she gestures toward a tall blonde woman in a red leather jacket, and a tall rugged man with dark brown hair. "This is Emma and Neal, they are your biological parents, and this is Mary Margaret and David they are your biological grandparents they are Emma's parents." Says Regina as she gestures toward a woman with short black hair, and a man with light brown hair.

"So you guys' are all fairytale characters, like the ones from the stories?". I ask.

"Yes, I am Prince Charming and Mary Margret here is Snow White.", says David as he gestures toward Mary Margret.

"I'm not necessarily a well known fairytale character though. I and The Savior and the product of true love.", says Emma a giving Snow and Charming a loving glance.

"Same here, I'm not a well known character either. My name here in The Enchanted Forest is Baelfire my father is Rumpelstiltskin, The Dark One.", says Neal.

"Dark One?", I ask.

"Keeper of all darkness.", says Regina. "I am the ex Evil Queen, I'm reformed."

"I am still confused as to why I haven't met any of you until know."

"You see Henry." says Regina. "Each of us have a lot of enemies, and before you were born Neal's' father, Rumplestiltskin had created a curse for us and the rest of the kingdom that would send us to a safer place, to a land without magic. And he did the curse worked. We were sent to the world that you grew up in, that was until the day that we were sent back here. A reason we still have yet to figure out why." says Regina.

"And you have met us before, or rather we met you. We knew you when you were just a baby but we started to see you less and less as you got older and eventually just stopped all together. Regina asked us to keep it that way.", said Emma.

"If you don't mind me asking. Why did you two give me up?", I ask looking at Emma and Neal. Each of them glance at each other and then back at me with blank expressions on their faces.

"We can talk about that later Henry, we have bigger things to deal with right now." says Regina as she looks toward the rest of the group. "Henry informed me that The Apprentice has deemed him the next Author."

"What! Where is The Apprentice now?", asks Charming

"I don't know he dissapeared when I got through the portal to here." I say.

"Portal? Regina I thought you said you weren't able to conjure up any portals back to the Land Without Magic?" says Emma

"I haven't been able to from this side, but the apprentice must have found a way. Henry where was this portal that you went through?" asks Regina

"Umm it was in some abandoned furniture store. I think it was called the Wizard of Oak?" Regina and Emma look at each other with knowing looks.

"That was his store wasn't it?" asks Regina to Emma as she nods.

"Whose store?", I ask

"The Wizard of Oak was my Ex's store who turned to be a flying monkey pawn of the Wicked Witch who turned out to be your Aunt." said Emma

"What? I'm related to an evil green witch?" I ask

"It's a long story but yes, the Wicked Witch Zelena is her name. Is my sister, your aunt. We had a run in with her a few years back. It ended with us defeating her and sending her back to Oz making is impossible for her to ever leave Oz again." Then a thought occurred to Regina. "Or maybe not." Regina whispered to herself.

"What is it?", asks Snow

"What if Zelena somehow found a way to create a portal in Oz and kidnap the Apprentice just before he went through the portal with Henry."

"Honestly I'd say anything is possible with your sister.", says Neal. "I say we go back to the Land without Magic and start by looking for the apprentice there."

"Agreed, but not all of us need to go. Some of us need to stay here and protect the kingdom." says Regina

"I'll go." I say

"No, Henry Zelena is too dangerous, you won't know what to expect from her." says Regina

"No offense, but you all haven't been to the real world in 10 years. I know that place better than anyone of you."

"I'll go with him.", says Emma. "I grew up in the real world just like him, and I'll bring some magic with us that way I can use my powers and keep him safe. Regina do you think you can conjure a portal?"

"I believe I can, but it has to be where the portal that Henry came through was. I can have it ready be morning", says Regina

"Then it's settled. Henry and Emma will head to the land without magic and bring back the apprentice.", said David.

Chapter 3

The next morning we head out to where Regina is hard at work finishing up the portal when Emma runs up behind me.

"Hey kid! You ready?", she asks.

"Yeah I guess, I mean it's not everyday you get to go fight the Wicked Witch and rescue a magical apprentice." I say. Right as I finish my sentence we reach Regina.

"The portal is just about ready.", says Regina

"Emma! This was my fathers." says Neal as he hands Emma a pocket mirror. "You use this if you need any help. Anything you need just call."

"Thanks Neal." says Emma in almost a whisper.

"Portal's ready Emma." says Snow. Regina throws what looks like a bean toward a tree and a magic portal opens up. Emma and I give our hugs goodbye to everyone. My hug with Regina just a little longer that the others. Emma and I walk through the portal and are back inside the Wizard of Oak.

"So Kid, where should we start?"

"We can start by heading to my place and coming up with a game plan.", I say. We walk back down the streets of New York the same streets the Apprentice took me on not to long ago. Once we reach my apartment building which is right above where I work, Mr. Gold, Pawn Broker. Emma stops dead in her tracks.

"This is where you work?" she asks

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I think I know where we can start looking for the apprentice." Says Emma as she walks past me and into the pawn shop. As you walk into the pawn shop you hear a bell ring from the door opening.

"Henry? Is that you? Where have you been my boy?" says Mr. Gold as he walks out to the front of the store and stops looking at us speechless.

"Hello Rumple." says Emma

"Mrs. Swan what are you doing here I thought you got sent back to the enchanted forest." Asks Gold

"We did but then Henry was brought there by the apprentice and now we can't find him, so we came back to find him." Says Emma

"And how do you suppose I could be at all of service to you." asks Gold

"Well I thought the Dark One would have some tricks up his sleeve. Perhaps a locator spell." Says Emma

"I just might have what you need, but what shall I get in return?" Asks Gold.

"How about getting to see your son after so long." Says Emma.

"Bae! He's with you in the enchanted forest?" Asks Gold surprised.

"I thought you knew that Neal was in the enchanted forest with us" Says Emma.

"No Bae had gone out for the night and he never came out I thought something happened to him but I thought he could take care of himself." Said Rumple

"I'm sure he would be happy to see you. How about you help us find the apprentice and we will bring you back through the the portal and you can see your son." Said Emma

"Then it's settled, now how do we find the apprentice"? I ask

"Do you have anything of the apprentices that I can use a locator spell on?"

"Maybe here why don't I check my bag." I say. WHile rummaging through my bag I find one thing that might just help. I pull out the pen that The Apprentice gave to me. "Will this work.", I ask Mr. Gold.

"Let me see it Henry." After examining it thoroughly Emma asks.

"Well Gold will it work"

"We will see." Says Gold as he pours the locator spell over the pen.

I am amazed when the pen begins to float and move out of the door. We head out the door we start to follow it. I'm surprised the no one is paying attention to a floating pen. It leads us to a parking lot behind the pawn shop. There is only one car in the parking lot that is covered by a tarp. Emma walks up to the car, pulls off the tarp and smiles at what she sees. A old yellow bug.

"This was mine when we lived here. I don't know how it ended up here though." Says Emma. The pen starts to move again, so we get into the bug and follow it outside the limits of New York. After following the Pen for hours it stops right in front of a sign that says "Welcome to Storybrooke". We pull over right before entering the town.

Emma looks over to Mr. Gold in the Passenger seat. "Have you been back here at all since we disappeared?" asks Emma.

"No it was too hard to be the only one left in the town when you all got sent back. And without Bae there I didn't see a point, so I opened the shop in New York." said Mr. Gold.

"You guys used to live here?", I ask.

"Yes when the I enacted the curse it created this town, Storybrooke. It is a place that only we can live in and only we can see. But some of us decided to venture out of Storybrooke and see the rest of the world. Now it is just an abandoned town now that everyone was sent back to the Enchanted Forest.", said Mr. Gold. Emma pulled back onto the road and began driving into Storybrooke. It was just like Mr. Gold had said, the town was completely abandoned. The pen stopped moving right in the middle of town, so we stopped as well. We all got out of the car and just stood by the pen that was still floating in the air.

"Are you sure this locator spell of yours works Gold? Because I don't see The Apprentice anywhere.", said Emma.

"Yes, I'm sure it works dearie! The Apprentice must be here somewhere inside Storybrooke." said Mr. Gold. Emma sighs realizing that this is going to be harder than she thought. Looking around she locks her eyes on a rustic brown ship with blue, red and gold detailing on the sides.

"Oh my god." Says Emma

"What is it?" I ask

"I know this ship."

"This isn't his is it?" Asks Gold

"Yeah it is." Says Emma

"Who's ship?" I ask

"Captain Killian Jones, but he's better known as…" Says Emma

"Captain Hook." Says a voice from a man coming up the stairs. And up comes a man in all leather and a hook for a hand.

"And welcome aboard the Jolly Roger."

"Hook" says Emma as she runs toward Hook to give him a huge hug.

"Hi Swan" says Hook

"How?" "How are you here?" Why didn't you come back with us?" Asks Emma.

"I don't know why I didn't get sent back with you guys." "Why don't you ask the crocodile he's the one that made the bloody curse for Regina anyway."

"Hey don't attack me I am still trying to figure how you guys got sent back." Says Gold

"Enough! We can talk about this later." I say. "Right now we need to find The Apprentice."

"Wait. The Apprentice is missing?" Asks Hook.

"Yes and we need your help to find him. We believe Zelena kidnapped him, for what we still don't know.", says Emma.

"Happy to help love. Let's get to work." says Hook.

"Alright! I saw we head to Zelena's farmhouse. She held me captive there so she's perfectly capable of holding The Apprentice their." says Mr. Gold. We head to the farmhouse and towards her storm cellar and the lock appears to be open. Heading down the stairs of the cellar it is dark and smells of must. Almost like no one has been here in years. Hook turns the light on and we see a cage that is open with only one object inside. A glass mirror. Emma takes a closer look inside the mirror, and what she sees gives her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. What she saw were her parents, Neal, Regina, and The Apprentice tied up, gagged, and unconscious.

"Mom! Dad! Guys!" exclaims Emma.

"Where are they?" I ask.

"I can't tell. All I can see is that they are unconcious." says Emma.

"Well I can help you with that Emma." says a mysterious voice coming from the mirror when out walks a green witch dressed in all black.

"Zelena!" says Mr. Gold seething through his teeth. "Why are you doing this?" he asks.

"Why is it that I do anything, but to get back at my sister of course. Not only for our mother giving me up and giving her everything, but for her sending me back to that wretched place they call Oz." says Zelena.

"You won't get away with this!" I say. "We will find you!"

"Please, I hope you do find me. Because then I will get the pleasure of ruining your life right in front of you." says Zelena. And with that the mirror goes black and we are left to our own thoughts.

"Gold, do you have any magic that can help us find where Zelena is?" asks Emma.

"No need Love. I know exactly where that place is and how we can get there." says Hook.

"Where?" I ask.

"Neverland…" says Hook as the others look at him with black expressions on their faces. "We can take the Jolly Roger." So we head back to the docks and board the Jolly Roger. Once we get going and head towards Neverland. Hook hand over the wheel to me and shows me how to guide the ship. He then heads below deck to find Emma there to herself. He walks up to her and sits next to her.

"So are you going to tell me who the kid is?" Asks Hook

"The kid is Henry, don't you remember Regina's son, my son the one that I gave up because I thought I was too young."

"That's Henry! I barely recognize him, last time I saw him was 6 years ago." Says Hook

"He is also the reason we are following that plac to find the apprentice." Says Emma

"What do you mean he's the reason we're looking for the apprentice?" Asks Hook

"The apprentice found Henry and told him he would be the new author and then he took him through a portal to the enchanted forest, but when Henry realized where he was the apprentice was gone. And if Henry is to be the next author that means something happened to the old author, so Henry came to the castle found us and now we're here looking for the apprentice." Says Emma

"Ok then what is your plan once you find the apprentice? What's your plan for us?" Asks Hook

"Well I was thinking that once we find the apprentice since he opened a portal to bring Henry to our world he can open one to bring all of us back or all of us here."

"Sounds good to me." Says Hook as he leans in to give Emma a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm going to go check on Henry." Says Emma

"Hey kid" says Emma

"Hey Emma" I say

"You know you can call me Mom, if you want to" says Emma

"Ok, then Mom can I ask you something?" I ask

"Sure what is it?"

"Why did you give me up?" I ask

"Well Henry the first thing I want you to know is that I didn't want to give you up. But the reason that I gave you up was because I wasn't ready to be a Mom and I wanted to give you your best shot and I knew that it wasn't with me. Regina wanted to be a mother so I decided that Regina would be your best chance at a normal life. With you living with her we could at least see you for a short time when you were a baby." Says Emma

"And Dad was ok with that" I ask

"Your Dad wasn't around at that time so it was ultimately my decision." Says Emma

"Thanks" I say

"What for?" Asks Emma

"For giving me my best shot." I say as I lean in for a hug.

"No problem kid."

"I don't mean to wreck this touchy moment here but Ms. Swan you might want to take a look at." Says Gold

"Is that?" Says Emma

"Skull rock." Says Hook

"That's skull rock" I ask

"Why would Zelena take them to skull rock?" Asks Hook

"I don't know, but all I care about is getting my family back." Says Emma as she picks up a sword. "Here you go kid" says Emma

"Thanks, but how do I use it?"

"Have you seen Star Wars?" Asks Emma

"Yeah." I say

"Well then it's just like using a lightsaber." Says Emma

"Sweet!" I say

"Let's get going." Says Hook Once we walk to the skull and get inside I see Regina, Snow, David, and Neal tied up and unconscious. We run over to them and wake them up.

"Mom, Mom wake up." I say as I shake her awake

"Henry are you?" Says Regina still groggy from being unconscious.

"I'm ok Mom, but we have to get going before Zelena comes back." I ask

"To late." Says voice coming from behind us.

"I thought I sent you back to Oz." says Regina

"Oh you did succeed in sending me back to Oz but with a little help of some magic I stole from the dark one before I was sent back against my will! I was able to come back. Says Zelena.

"Are you the reason we all got sent back to the Enchanted Forest Zelena?" Asks Emma

"Why yes darling yes I am." Says Zelena smuggly

"But why? Why would you do that to our family?" Says Mary Margaret

"Why only to get back at Regina of course." Says Zelena

"Me! Why me?" Says Regina

"Why not you! Mother gave you everything. She gave you love, a marriage, power. What did she give me? Nothing she left me in a woods to save her own self. So I thought why not take you away from the thing you love most your dreadful son." Says Zelena

"Well you've already failed Zelena we are all here together now so why don't you just set us all free and give us who we came here for." Says Emma

"Who, this old guy?" Says Zelena as she snaps her fingers and appears the apprentice tied up.

"Why did you capture the apprentice and what did you do to the author?" asks Charming.

"Oh the author he was collateral damage so I killed him, and the reason I captured the apprentice is so that you won't figure out how to use that pen to write a story to get your family back." Says Zelena and once she said that the apprentice got a look on his face like he has a bright idea. He turns to me gives me a nod. Then I start to hear a voice in my head.

"Use it use it use the pen." Says the voice in my head.

"That's it." I say. I grab a notepad from my pocket, the pen, and the ink and I write.

"_Zelena was defeated and sent back to Oz from which she can never return from or to any other realm. The Heros were then sent back to the Wizard of Oak where the portal was opened."_

"No! What did you just write?" Asked Zelena

"Something to get rid of you." I say as I finish writing the last sentence. There is a big gush of wind. Zelena is sent back to her rightful place and we end up back inside the Wizard of Oak, and I was thanked by a bunch of hugs coming at me.

"Great job kid." Says Emma

"Well done Henry." Says Regina. Everyone takes a step back and the apprentice walks up to me.

"I see you got my message. It's a great power Henry use it wisely. Why don't I open the portal and we can ALL go back home, and I'll show you how to use that power." Says The Apprentice.

"I think that would be great." Says Emma

"Then we can all be together, all of us." Says Hook as he wraps an arm around Emma's shoulder. The apprentice snaps his fingers and the portal appears. We all jump in and land back in the enchanted forest.

"So I guess that marks your first adventure with us kid." says Emma

"Yeah I guess"

"You ready for the next one?" Asks Emma

"I don't know but I'm kind of tired out from this one." I say

"Trust me Henry, once you get to know this family we will probably have someone to save or a problem on our hands every week." Says Regina as her and Emma put their arms around me and we walk towards the castle.

The End


End file.
